The invention relates to a getter sorption pump for high-vacuum and gas discharge systems comprising at least one getter member of non-evaporating getter material and a corresponding heating element.
In order to achieve a high pump power, a plurality of individual getters had to be previously interconnected. This resulted in the efficiency becoming increasingly deteriorated with respect to the heating capacity, the heat dissipation was intensified, and the space requirement for the accommodation of the individual getters increased. Heating capacity had to be constantly supplied in order to stabilize the pump power over a longer time.
Since the traditional getter substances only develop their optimum pump capabilities for various gases at specific temperatures (selective pump properties), the working temperature either had to be varied, or the individual getters had to be held at different temperatures with at least two heating circuits.
These necessary techniques were usually disregarded in practice, so that the optimum getter properties of the non-evaporating getters remained unexploited. Even a previously disclosed getter pump which has a larger, compact getter member instead of many individual getters, exhibits the most significant of the above described disadvantages.